For the entertainment programme, bands were required to play an ochestral transcription, plus a march composed by a composer from a prescribed list.

The adjudicators were in separate boxes and each awarded placings for each band for both the set test piece and the orchestral transcription. 1st place is then converted to 60 points, 2nd place 59 points, and so on. The highest and lowest marks awarded to each band were discarded and hence a maximum of 360 points (2 x 180) were available. Points scored for the own choice march were not included in the overall mark and were for the purpose of deciding the special march prize only.